Supplementary Material

1: Global scale usage of virtual laboratories

The Virtual laboratories have been reported to have more than 300,000 registered users as of February 28, 2018, with a steady increase of new users since 2012. In 2012, there were 13438 registered users and as of today (February 28) has 305327 users.

2. Usage statistics from CAPVL platform (Period from 22nd February, 2012- 28th February, 2018)

Popular Operating System
Windows / 53%
Android / 20%
Macintosh / 8%
iOS / 6%
Linux / 2%
BlackBerry / 1%

Data shows user’s preferences on browsers and operating system for performing virtual lab experiments.

Popular Browser
Chrome / 54%
Firefox / 12%
Safari / 10%
Opera Mini / 7%
Internet Explorer / 7%
UC Browser / 6%

3. Virtual Laboratories: Access information

Virtual laboratory experiments are divided among biological sciences, physical sciences, chemical sciences and engineering disciplines. The laboratories are freely accessible at

Users may need to register with their Google or institutional email ID for access.

Discipline / Subjects Covered / Experiment name
Biotechnology and Biomedical engineering / Neurophysiology / Brain Slice Preparation
Simple Neuron Model - the HH neuron
Patch Clamp Technique
Current Clamp Technique
Voltage Clamp Technique
Study of Synaptic Transmission
Measuring Field Potentials Using MEA chips
Understanding the Passive Properties of a Simple Neuron
Effects of Ion Channels in Membrane Biophysics
Effect of Noise on Spiking Neurons
Neuron Simulation / Modeling resting potentials in Neurons
Modeling action potentials
Modeling the delayed rectifier Potassium channels
Modeling the sodium ion channel and its effects on neural signaling
Current Clamp protocol
Voltage Clamp Protocol
Understanding Frequency-Current relationship
Understanding first spike latency - current relationship
Voltage-Current (VI) plot
Effects of pharmacological blockers on action potential
Biochemistry / Qualitative Analysis of Carbohydrates
Isoelectric Precipitation of Proteins: Casein from Milk
Quantitative Estimation of Amino Acids by Ninhydrin
Separation of Amino Acids by Thin Layer Chromatography
Estimation of Saponification Value of Fats/Oils
Detection of Adulteration in Milk
Qualitative Analysis of Amino Acid
Estimation of Iodine Value of Fats and Oils
Titration Curves of Aminoacids
Estimation of blood glucose by Glucose oxidase method
Isolation of β -Amylase from Sweet Potato
GelatinZymography
Extraction of Caffeine from Tea
Construction of Maltose Standard Curve by DNS Method
Isolation of Plant Pigments by Column Chromatography
Structural Studies of Phycobiliproteins from Spirulina
Construction of Protein Standard Curve using Folin’s Lowry Method
Effect of Substrate Concentration on Enzyme Kinetics
Effect of temperature on enzyme kinetics
Hydrolysis of Ester using orange peel esterase
Population Ecology / Population with Continuous and Discrete Growth
Spread of a Pest Population - Population Invasion
Age Structured Leslie Matrix
Stage Structured Leslie Matrix
Metapopulation Dynamics -Levins Model
Interspecific Competition and Coexistence
Effect of Interspecific Competition on Species Border
Logistic Population Growth: Continuous and Discrete
Parasitoid-Host Dynamics
Conserving an Endangered Species
Predator - Prey Dynamics - Rats and Snakes (LotkaVolterra Simulation)
Effect of Predator Efficiency on Equilibrium Densities & Pop. Stability
Effect of Social Behavior Amongst Predator-Prey Populations
Effects of Carrying Capacity and Satiation in Predator-Prey Dynamics
Harvesting a Prey Population
Optimal Foraging with Minimal Time: A Case of Searching Predators
Optimal Foraging : Searching Predators that Maximize Energy
Optimal Pollinators
Optimal Foraging: Sit-and-wait Predators that Maximize Energy
Microparasite and Macroparasite - Host Dynamics
Immunology / Collection of Serum from Blood
Blood Grouping Experiment
Latex Agglutination
Indirect ELISA
Direct ELISA
Sandwich Elisa
ELISPOT Assay
Antibody Labeling with HRP
Extraction of IgG Antibodies from Immunized Hen Egg
Isolation of lymphocytes from whole blood
Ouchterlony Double Diffusion -Titration
Ouchterlony Double Diffusion - Patterns
Purification of IgG Antibodies with Ammonium Sulphate
Removal of Thymus and Spleen from Mice
Mouse Anesthesia and Blood Collection
Parenteral Injections
Purification of IgG Antibodies using Affinity Chromatography
Fluorescent Labeling of Antibodies
Fragmentation of IgG Using Papain
Fragmentation of IgG using pepsin
Microbiology / Gram Stain Technique
Aseptic Technique and the Transfer of Microorganisms
Streak Plate Method
Motility Test
Catalase and Coagulase Test
Selective and Differential Media for Identifying Microorganisms
Lecithinase Test
Bacterial Growth Curve
Carbohydrate Fermentation Test
Differential and Cytological Staining Techniques
Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing
Methylene Blue Reductase Test
Voges-Proskauer Test
Triple Sugar Iron Agar
Urease Test
Litmus Milk Test
Slide Culture Technique for Fungi
Bacteriophage Plaque Assay for Phage Titer
Isolation and Identification of Auxotrophic and Drug Resistant Mutants
Isolation and Identification of Two Bacterial Unknowns
Routes of Viral Inoculation in Embryonated Eggs
16S Ribosomal RNA Sequencing
Molecular Biology / Preparation of Buffer stocks (TBE,TE and TAE)
Plasmid Isolation (Mini prep)
Extraction of DNA from Fish Fins
Hot Shot Method of DNA Extraction
Agarose Gel Electrophoresis (AGE)
Restriction Digestion
Maintenance and Storage of DH5alpha E.coli cells
Preparation of Competent Cell (Calcium Chloride Treatment)
Transformation of the Host Cells
Extraction of DNA from Agarose gel
Preparation of Equilibrated Phenol
Isolation of RNA
Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis
Ligation ( Using T4 DNA Ligase)
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
Electroblotting
Plating of the Bacteriophage
Plasmid Curing
Extraction of Bacteriophage DNA from Large Scale Cultures Using Proteinase K and SDS
Preparation of stocks of bacteriophage lambda by plate lysis and elution
Cell Biology / Light Microscope
Cell Organization and Sub Cellular Structure Studies (Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic)
Transmission Electron Microscopy
Isolation of Mitochondria
Isolation of Chloroplast
Isolation of Endoplasmic Reticulum
Basics of Plant Tissue Culture
Glucose Uptake Assay
Transfection
Western Blotting
Lignin Staining
Hemocytometer (Counting of Cells)
Maintenance of Mamallian Cell Lines
Cell Attachment
Cell Migration
Actin Assembly
Mitosis in Onion Root Tips
Cell Proliferation
Toxicity studies in Zebrafish
Primary Cell Culture
Biological Image Analysis / Introduction to Biological Image Analysis
Quantification of Lignin in Tissue Sections
Analysis of Cell Morphology
Counting of Fluorescent Particles
Counting of Total Fluorescence in a Cell
Analysis on Molecular Gels: A Case Study in Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis
Quantification of Stained Liver Cells
Quantification of Bacterial Colonies on an Agar Plate
Quantification of Amino Acids Present in a Mixture
Quantification of Protein Present in a Sample
Bioinformatics / Retrieving sequence data from Entrez
Locating the chromosome of a Gene
Retrieve gene expression data from GEO
Retrieving articles using PubMed
Finding ORF of a Given Sequence
Retrieving structural data of a protein using PDB database
Retrieving Motif Information of a Protein Using Prosite
Retrieving Gene Information from TAIR database
Designing a primer
Global alignment of two sequences - Needleman-Wunsch Algorithm
Smith-Waterman Algorithm - Local Alignment of Sequences
Pairwise Sequence Alignment using BLAST
Pairwise sequence alignment using FASTA
Aligning Multiple Sequences with CLUSTAL W
Construction of Cladogram
Phylogenetic Analysis using PHYLIP - Rooted trees
Phylogenetic Analysis using PHYLIP - Unrooted trees
Genome Annotation and Multiple Sequence Allignment
Visualizing the Secondary Structure of a Protein
Calculating the Distance between the Ligand and a Particular Amino acid
Finding the Active Site Pockets of a given Protein Molecule
Primary Structure Analysis of a Protein Using ProtParam
Secondary structure analysis of a protein using SOPMA
Surface Analysis of a Protein Using CASTp
Retrieving details of a drug molecule
Converting chemical file formats
Homology Modeling using Modeller
Protein- Ligand Interaction
Systems Biology / Mathematical modeling and simulating of Biochemical network
Import and simulate models from different databases
To Import and simulate a model from the repository
SBML-A markup language for mathematical models in systems biology using cell designer
Creating and Visualizing a Simple Network Model
Analysis of biological networks for feature detection
Integrating Biological Networks and Microarray Expression data
Analyzing the network by finding sub modules
Computer Aided Drug Design / Constructing computational model of a molecule
Introducing Hydrogen atoms to a molecule
Dihedral angle calculation of a molecule
Energy minimization of a molecule
Predict the structure of protein-Homology Modeling
Drug-Receptor Interaction
Absorption and Distribution Property Prediction in Drug Designing Process
Toxicity prediction of a Molecule
Ecology / Determination of pH of Waste Water Sample
Biological Oxygen Demand
Chemical Oxygen Demand of Waste water
Nitrogen Cycle
A Brief Introduction to Species Interactions in Ecology
Bacterial Population Growth
Population Invasion - A Threat to Ecosystem
Study of Foraging of Organisms in the Ecosystem
Case Studies on Ecology
Bio-inspired Robotics / Controlling a servo motor in a bio-robotic environment
Understanding the kinematics of a robotic upper arm
Understanding the kinematics of a robotic upper arm - Interactive
Light sensing process in a neural circuit
Mechanism behind the movement of a Walker robot with 4 neurons
Interaction study with Neuronal Circuits
Constructing a six core brain like circuit
Pattern recognition in a hardware neural network
Biophysics / Using a light microscope
Observing an animal cell using a light microscope
Study of RC Properties of Cell Membrane
Study of Electrically excitable cells
Bursting phenomenon in biology via RC models
Micrometry
Multicompartmental modelling of biophysical behaviour of neurons
Understanding Photosynthesis as a Biologically Closed Process
Chemical Sciences / Physical Chemistry / Spectrophotometry
Cryoscopy
Ebullioscopy
EMF measurement
Determination of Viscosity of Organic Solvents
Adsorption Isotherm
Verification of Tafel Equation
Determination of Viscosity Average Molecular Weight of Polymer
Calorimetry -Water equivalent Calorimetry
Calorimetry -Heat of Neutralization
Organic Chemistry / Detection of Functional Groups
Detection of Elements: Lassaigne’s Test
Separation of Compounds Using Column Chromatography
Purification by Fractional distillation/crystallisation
Purification by Steam distillation/crystallisation
Laser Flash Photometer
Organic Preparations - Allylation of Isatin
Estimation of Aspirin
Estimation Of Glucose
Calculation of λmax of Organic Compounds Using Woodward Fieser Rules
Inorganic Chemistry / Water analysis-Determination of Physical parameters
Water analysis-Determination of Chemical parameters
Acid Base Titration
Gravimetric Estimation of Barium
Gravimetric Estimation of Nickel
Crystal Field Theory
Group Theory
Alloy Analysis (Brass)
Soil Analysis-Determination of Specific conductivity of Soil
Soil Analysis-Determination of pH of Soil
Advanced Analytical Chemistry / Soil Analysis-Determination of Available Organic Carbon content in the Soil
Soil Analysis-Determination of Available Nitrogen content in the Soil by Kjeldahl method
Soil Analysis-Determination of Available Phosphorus content in the Soil by Bray's method
Electrogravimetric Estimation of Metals
Estimation of Phosphate Content in Soft Drinks
Flame Photometry
Polarography - Determination of Unknown Concentration of Cadmium
Polarography - Determination of Unknown Concentration of Vitamin C
Physical Sciences / Electricity & Magnetism / Tangent Galvanometer
Magnetic Field Along The Axis of A Circular Coil Carrying Current
Deflection Magnetometer
Van De Graaff Generator
Barkhausen Effect
Temperature Coefficient of Resistance
Anderson's Bridge
Quincke's Method
Heat & Thermodynamics / Heat Transfer by Radiation
Heat transfer by Conduction
Heat Transfer by Natural Convection
The Study of Phase Change
Black Body Radiation: Determination of Stefan's Constant
Newton's Law of Cooling
Lee's Disc Apparatus
Thermo Couple-Seebeck Effect
Harmonic Motion and Waves / Astablemultivibrator
Melde's String Apparatus
Kundt's Tube Apparatus
Ultrasonic Interferometer
Doppler Effect
A.C Sonometer
Colpitts Oscillator
Hartley Oscillator
Modern Physics / Franck-Hertz Experiment
Soldering
Solar Panel Experiment
Photoelectric effect
Determination of Planck's Constant
Abbe's Refractometer
Emission spectra
Millikan's oil drop experiment
Magnetic Material Characterization via Hystersis
Laser Optics / Michelson's Interferometer- Refractive index of glass plate
Newton's Rings-Refractive index of liquid
Michelson's Interferometer- Wavelength of laser beam
Laser beam divergence and spot size
Newton's Rings-Wavelength of light
Brewsters Angle determination
Numerical Aperture of Optical Fiber
Mechanics / Torque and angular acceleration of a fly wheel
Torsional oscillations in different liquids
Moment of Inertia of Flywheel
Newton's Second Law of Motion
Ballistic Pendulum
Collision balls
Projectile Motion
Elastic and Inelastic Collision
Electric Circuits / Parallel RC Circuits
Parallel LC Circuits
Thevenin’s Theorem
Series RL Circuits
Norton's theorem
Series LCR Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Laws
Series RC Circuits
Series LC Circuits
Parallel LCR Circuits
Parallel RL Circuits
Advanced Mechanics / Rigidity Modulus of The Suspension Wire of A Torsion Pendulum
Young's Modulus-NonUniform Bending
Compound Pendulum- Symmetric
Kater's pendulum
Young's Modulus-Uniform Bending
Moment of inertia of a Torsion Pendulum
Rigidity Modulus -Static Torsion
Optics / Resolving power of a prism
Angle of the prism using Spectrometer
Spectrometer i-i' curve
Spectrometer: i-d curve
Spectrometer- Determination of Cauchy's constants
Spectrometer, Refractive Index of the material of a prism
Spectrometer,Dispersive power of a prism
Diffraction Grating
Solid State Physics / Characteristics of Zener diode
Characteristics of Thermistor
Resistivity by Four Probe Method
B-H Curve
Hall effect experiment:- Determination of charge carrier density
Cornus Experiment
Zener Diode as Voltage Regulator
Crystal Structure
Computer Science / Wireless Sensor Network lab / Introduction to WSN
nesC Programming
Send and Receive
Range & Connectivity vs. Antenna Power
Duty Cycle vs. Power Consumption
Sensor Data Acquisition
Data Collection Frequency and Tx. vs. Power Consumption
Wireless Propagation
Wireless Sensor Network
Wireless Sensor Network Data Acquisition, Transmission, and Aggregation
Clustering Algorithms
Time Synchronization
Mechanical Engineering / Wind energy lab / Anemometer
Wind Modelling Analysis
Wind Tunnel - Pressure
Wind Tunnel- Force
Wind Tunnel - Angle
Wind Tunnel -Pitot
Dynamometer
Wind Turbine -Power production in Wind Turbine
Wind Turbine - Cp Vs λ
Solar energy Labs / Solar Energy Measurements - Pyrheliometer
Solar Energy Measurements - Pyranometer
Solar Energy Measurements
Solar PV Tracker
External Compound Parabolic Collector(XCPC) - Oil
External Compound Parabolic Collector (XCPC)
Parabolic Trough - Angle
Parabolic Trough -Flow Rate
Mechanics of Solids Labs / Beam Theory I
Beam Theory II
Young's modulus on UTM
Poisson's ratio on UTM
Saint Venant Principle
Stress Distribution around a circular hole
Stress Concentration around a Notch using UTM
Creep Test
Energy Storage Labs / Ultracapacitor
DC flywheel battery
AC Flywheel battery
PbA Battery
Ni-Cad Battery
Ni-MH Battery
Li-ion Battery
Li-Po Battery
Peukert Law
Cyber Security / In development phase